Grand scheme to build expressway

HO CHI MINH CITY  Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport says it is holding talks with officials in Lao PDR on a major project to build a 760-km expressway linking the capitals of the two neighbouring countries.
Saigon Times media reported that discussions on the Vientiane-Hanoi Expressway project started, last week. Talks are detailing preparations for a feasibility study on the route and forecasted traffic between Vientiane and Hanoi.
According to the pre-feasibility study done by Vietnam’s Transportation Design Consultancy Corporation (TEDI), the expressway would pass through Paksan in Laos and Thanh Thuy (Nghe An province) in Vietnam.

There are also long-term aspirations to extend highway links to Thailand’s road network at Nong Khai and across North Thailand west to Myanmar’s Nay Pyi Taw. But that is part of the decade-old plans under the East-West Corridor project created by the Asian Development Bank.
inside no 3In Laos, TEDI proposed the expressway go through Thanh Thuy border gate in the central province of Nghe An and Nam On border gate in Lao province Bolikhamsai since this is the shortest route.
Ministry of Transport suggested TEDI choose between two connections, with one via the border gates of Thanh Thuy and Nam On and the other through the border at Ha Tinh province’s Cau Treo and Bolikhamsai province’s Nam Phao.
It is expected that the Ministry of Transport will work this month with the Ministry of Transport of Laos over the terms of reference for a feasibility study.
Ministry of Public Works and Transport head, Dr Santisouk Simmalavong, told Vientiane Times that the ministry has assembled teams to conduct a survey.
The ministry has yet to decide whether to upgrade existing roads to expressway standard, or build an entirely new road.
A feasibility study should also answer important questions of financing and the role each country will play in funding.
Motorists travelling from Vientiane to Hanoi use the road to the Nam Phao-Cau Treo international border checkpoint in Bolikhamsai province. Laos’ feasibility study may investigate this option.
In early October, the Ministry of Transport and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) signed an agreement to conduct a feasibility study for a rail link between Ha Tinh Province’s Vung Ang and Vientiane.
Vientiane-Hanoi Expressway and Vung Ang-Vientiane railway could be important transport links with ASEAN countries and in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. However, the investment is massive and it has critics, many of them fearing the environment could be damaged. Others are concerned that funds are being used to expand roads for motorists, a wealthy minority in Laos, while failing to address the more urgent needs of the majority of Lao citizens, such as supporting education and public health projects that are starved of financing.

sourced:ttrweekly.com